Our politics has become institutionalised self-absorption at taxpayer expenseI can’t tell you with any certainty when Australian politics became purely an ego sport, when it became untethered from shame, or modesty, or dignity, or proportion, and just fell face-first into its own soap opera, lapsing into a daily practice of coughing up fur balls – […]

No 10 forced to deny government is seeking open-ended transition period, as 11-strong Brexit inner cabinet prepares for marathon talksTheresa May was forced to reassure jittery Brexiters on her own back benches on Wednesday as her 11-strong Brexit inner cabinet prepared to assemble for an eight-hour away-day to thrash out a deal on Britain’s future […]

The appearance the NRA spokeswoman at a CNN town hall with Florida shooting survivors signals a change in tactics by the gun lobby In the days after a mass shooting, the National Rifle Association usually stays completely silent, its social media accounts on lockdown.Even in less fraught times, the US’s leading pro-gun lobby group usually […]

UN secretary-general demands suspension of fighting in eastern Ghouta, which he says is ‘hell on earth’Aid agencies, including the Red Cross and World Food Programme, are calling for an urgent ceasefire to allow them to reach the besieged Syrian enclave of eastern Ghouta, as rockets and barrel bombs dropped by pro-regime forces killed dozens more […]

Move to cut pension scheme risk attributed to wealthiest institutions’ role in Universities UK surveyThe higher education strike affecting an estimated 1 million students this week may have been provoked by hardline positions taken by some of the UK’s wealthiest universities, according to academics fighting against pensions cuts.Oxford and Cambridge universities and several of their […]

Students not seen since attack at Dapchi, north-east Nigeria, as parents fear repeat of abductions seen at Chibok in 2014 Fears grew in north-east Nigeria on Wednesday about the fate of potentially scores of girls who have not been seen since attack on their school by suspected Boko Haram fighters two days ago.Militants stormed the […]

Students across the US are walking out of their schools to protest against gun violence and demand stricter gun laws after last week's massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida. They're marching in solidarity with the survivors of the second deadliest public school shooting in US history to call for a ban […]

Billy Graham, the renowned evangelist preacher, has died aged 99. Graham was famous for his impassioned sermons delivered to millions of people across the United States and around the world. He visited at least 185 countries to spread his message and was a confidant of several US presidents. Photograph: Everett/Rex/ShutterstockBilly Graham, famed Christian evangelist, dies […]

Father of showman evangelicalism had the ear of 12 presidentsDonald Trump and Mike Pence pay tribute to ‘a very special man’Billy Graham, the 20th-century Christian crusader and father of showman evangelicalism who had the ear of 12 US presidents, has died at the age of 99.Among the first to pay tribute were Donald Trump and […]

Prime minister defies calls to scrap UK commitment to spend 0.7% of national income on aidThe UK’s aid budget will not be cut as a result of the sexual exploitation scandal affecting the sector, the prime minister has confirmed in a push back against the right wing of her party.There have been calls for the […]

Billy Graham, who has died aged 99, was a Southern Baptist minister with celebrity status. His evangelical rallies were compared to pop concerts, and he preached the gospel to live audiences of over 210m people in 185 countries Continue reading...

Israeli media say that Shlomo Filber has made a deal to turn state witness after being arrested The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is battling for his political career in the face of various corruption allegations, has suffered a potentially devastating blow after a former confidant reportedly agreed to turn state witness.A week after […]

A recent Canadian documentary promoted a fringe idea in American archaeology that’s both scientifically wrong and racist Last month’s release of The Ice Bridge, an episode in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation series The Nature of Things has once again revived public discussion of a controversial idea about how the Americas were peopled known as the […]

Analysts liken trip to Winter Olympics by US president’s daughter to that of Kim Yo-jongThe South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, will welcome Ivanka Trump, daughter of the US president, to South Korea for the Winter Olympics closing ceremony on Sunday – a trip that analysts have likened to an appearance by Kim Jong-un’s sister earlier […]

Head of UN agency for Palestinian refugees fears new generation could be radicalised as food aid to Gaza and Syria approaches critical lowThe head of the main United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees has warned that the organisation is facing the most severe funding crisis in its history, threatening its support to an estimated 5.3 […]

Teenagers’ use of Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram is social media at its best – a cudgel against political discourse that desperately needs to changeHigh schools have dances, they have cafeterias, they have midterm exams and, in the United States, they have shootings.“Our school is having a shooting,” tweeted Heather, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas […]

Alex van der Zwaan charged with making false statements to special counsel investigating Trump campaign and its ties to RussiaA lawyer who previously worked with Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, marking another major development in the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump election campaign and […]

From highways carved through thriving ‘ghettoes’ to walls segregating black and white areas, US city development has a long and divisive historyIt’s a little after 3pm in Detroit’s 8 Mile neighbourhood, and the cicadas are buzzing loudly in the trees. Children weave down the pavements on bicycles, while a pickup basketball game gets under way […]

Zainab Fayez, the sole woman in Kandahar’s attorney-general’s office, wants greater equality in the Afghan justice systemZainab Fayez, the only woman serving as a prosecutor in Afghanistan’s southern province of Kandahar, has resolved 50 cases of abuse against women, and helped detain 21 men accused of violence against women, including police officials, over the past […]

Defectors reveal crippling extortion by Islamist terror group and ‘brainwashing’ of boys, as it suffers apparent crisis of moraleAl-Shabaab militants in Somalia are extorting huge sums from starving communities and forcibly recruiting hundreds of children as soldiers and suicide bombers as the terror group endures financial pressures and an apparent crisis of morale.Intelligence documents, transcripts […]

A musician's brain is different to that of a non-musician. Making music requires an interplay of abilities which are also reflected in more developed brain structures. Scientists have discovered that these capabilities are embedded in a much more finely tuned way than assumed: The brain activity of jazz pianists differs from those of classical pianists, […]

The first study to quantify nutritional quality of food and drinks endorsed by music celebrities popular among teens has concluded that almost all such products are unhealthy. None of the music stars identified in the study endorsed fruits, vegetables, or whole grains. Only one endorsed a natural food deemed healthy--pistachios.

Digitization and the web are being used to manage and disseminate cultural heritage, according to new research. A new study focuses on an Ionian music archive to show how modern technology can be used to conserve musical cultural heritage.

The reason why middle class people are more likely to play music, paint and act has been revealed in a major new study. Research involving 78,000 people found that it was not wealth or social status that were strongly linked to people taking part in arts activities as amateurs or professionals, but rather, the level […]

Evolutionary biologists and computer scientists have come together study the evolution of pop music. Their analysis of 17,000 songs from the US Billboard Hot 100 charts, 1960 to 2010, is the most substantial scientific study of the history of popular music to date.

A new study uncovers how classical music composers collaborate, mix, and influence one another: Results show how culture evolves and predict the future of the recording market. A team of scientists has shed light on the dynamics of the creation, collaboration and dissemination processes involved in classical music works and styles. Their study focuses on […]

In a study called 'the largest investigation of the association between playing a musical instrument and brain development,' a child psychiatry team has found that musical training might also help kids focus their attention, control their emotions and diminish their anxiety.

Listening to jazz music while putting can boost your performance on the putting green, according to new research. While any kind of music improves performance compared to listening to no music at all, jazz is the most effective musical genre for improving putting.

A child's ability to distinguish musical rhythm is related to his or her capacity for understanding grammar, according to a recent study. The study is the first of its kind to show an association between musical rhythm and grammar.

What made Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” a No. 1 hit on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 1983, and other songs, like Madonna’s 1999 “Nothing Really Matters,” flounder at 90 or below? New research suggests that back-up singers may finally be getting their due.

Teenagers interested in celebrity culture are more likely to have a well-rounded knowledge of modern life and awareness of issues relating to politics, economics and the media, a leading Media Arts academic has said. Many intelligent young people have a desire to learn about celebrities' lives, which can help them develop informed opinions on topical […]

Researchers are wrapping up a 10-year study of popular music in Super Bowl commercials this year. Through this research they will illustrate the frequency in which advertisers employ popular music to market and relate with consumers.

A new study examined whether an extended music education had an impact on pupils' experienced satisfaction with the school. Nearly a thousand pupils at ten Finnish schools with extended music classes and comparison classes participated on a survey that measured the quality of school life at Year 3 and Year 6.

Understanding nature and its processes has greatly benefitted from open data. Open remotely sensed data make hard-to-reach wilderness areas more accessible -- at least from above. These advances provide new opportunities for Earth system research.

Studying data from Twitter, researchers found that less people tweet per capita from larger cities than in smaller ones, indicating an unexpected trend that has implications in understanding urban pace of life.

A new research report shows that a high ranking in the Human Development Index is connected with the availability of mental health services. In a comparison between 17 European and Asian countries, Norway, Switzerland and Finland had the highest ratio of child and adolescent psychiatrists.

Recent changes to vegetation cover are causing Earth's surface to heat up. Activities like cutting down evergreen forests for agricultural expansion in the tropics create energy imbalances that lead to higher local surface temperatures and contribute to global warming.

Porpoises communicate with each other using sounds. Therefore, they are highly sensitive to noise, such as ship noise. A new study shows that porpoises flee from and stop feeding when disturbed by heavy ship noise.

Public outreach campaigns can prevent the spread of devastating yet treatable diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and gonorrhea. But ensuring these campaigns effectively reach undiagnosed patients, who may unknowingly spread the disease to others, is a major challenge for cash-strapped public health agencies. Now, a team of researchers has created an algorithm that can help […]

Researchers have successfully used data to predict primary care patients' needs for social service referrals, a finding that may potentially help shift the focus of health care from caring for ill people to preventing patients from getting sick.

Millions of plastic pellets are leaking out into the environment from a manufacturing site in Stenungsund, according to a new Swedish study. Despite several international and national sets of regulatory frameworks, the leaking continues.

There's nothing wrong with being a little weird. Because we think of psychological disorders on a continuum, we may worry when our own ways of thinking and behaving don't match up with our idealized notion of health. But some variability can be healthy and even adaptive, say researchers, even though it can also complicate attempts […]

Fake news is everywhere, but why we believe it is still unclear. Psychologists suggest that valuing our identity more than our accuracy is what leads us to accept incorrect information that aligns with our political party's beliefs. This value discrepancy can explain why high-quality news sources are no longer enough--and understanding it can help us […]

Peaking global carbon dioxide emissions as soon as possible is crucial for limiting the risks of sea-level rise, even if global warming is limited to well below 2 degrees C. A new study analyzes for the first time the sea-level legacy until 2300 within the constraints of the Paris Agreement.

A new paper is the first to look at 1,000 years of English development and detect the kinds of algorithms that human minds have used to extend existing words to new senses of meaning. This kind of 'reverse engineering' of how human language has developed could have implications for natural language processing by machines.

Researchers can now remove a common anxiety drug from recycled water and wastewater, using low-cost titanium dioxide nanofibers. In cities running out of water, removing pharmaceuticals from wastewater in a simple, low cost way is becoming a priority.